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Adrian man pleads guilty to slaying his parents in '08
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ADRIAN, Michigan
Marshall Sosby entered into a plea agreement in Lenawee County Circuit Court on Thursday to charges that he shot his father, and then his mother. The couple was found dead in their Division Street home Sept. 23, 2008. Police and prosecutors have not speculated on potential motives for the killings.
A trial on open murder charges was to begin Dec. 9. Ms. Anzalone, his court appointed attorney, said Sosby planned and carried out his father's slaying. "He didn't plan to kill his mother. He reacted without any intention of killing his mother," she said.
Marshall Sosby admitted shooting his father then turning the same handgun on his mother. He was asked to describe what happened after entering guilty pleas during the unannounced hearing. Judge Timothy P. Pickard asked why he planned and carried out the murder of his father.
"A lot of anger issues; he was very abusive," Marshall Sosby said. He said he "blacked out" after shooting his father. He then turned the gun on his mother. "I wasn't thinking when I shot her," Marshall Sosby said.
At the end of the hearing, Marshall Sosby briefly acknowledged several relatives in the courtroom before being led away. Judge Pickard scheduled sentencing for Jan. 8. The sentencing will be a complicated event, said Ms. Anzalone. Much of the case she was planning to present at trial will be part of the sentencing memorandum.
The plea bargain guaranteed that Marshall Sosby will have a chance at parole, she said, explaining the decision not to go to trial with a battered child defense. Separate evaluations by state and private psychologists produced recommendations that he be found criminally responsible for the killings.
There is no provision in Michigan law for lesser charges or sentences in cases where a battered child or spouse murders an abuser.Anzalone said she learned in her research that paroles are being granted in other states to people who murdered their parents in reaction to abuse as children. "There was abuse in the house and I know he tried to run away and was brought back," Anzalone said.
Marshall Sosby claims he was physically abused by his father. The claims of abuse in the Sosby home conflict with descriptions of the couple given by the friends after the murder occurred.
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